Bigotry

– “Likewise, much of the US right wing appears to have seized upon American Sniper with similarly shallow comprehension – treating it with the same unconsidered, rah-rah reverence that they would the national anthem or the flag itself. Only a few weeks into its release, the film has been flattened into a symbol to serve the interests of an ideology that, arguably, runs counter to the ethos of the film itself. How much, if at all, should Eastwood concern himself with fans who misunderstand and misuse his work? If he, intentionally or not, makes a hero out of Kyle – who, bare minimum, was a racist who took pleasure in dehumanising and killing brown people – is he responsible for validating racism, murder, and dehumanisation? Is he a propagandist if people use his work as propaganda?” The real American Sniper was a hate-filled killer. Why are simplistic patriots treating him as a hero? (via @TheLindyWest)

Irony

– “A 16-year-old high school student was taken into police custody on Thursday and indicted for “defending terrorism,” national broadcaster France 3 reports. His alleged crime? He posted on Facebook a cartoon “representing a person holding the magazine Charlie Hebdo, being hit by bullets, and accompanied by an ‘ironic’ comment,” France 3 states.” France begins jailing people for ironic comments (via @intifada)

Page 3

– “This is the major problem with candid shots. They’re infinitely worse than posed photos. What does a photograph snapped without a woman’s knowledge or blessing say about our attitude towards consent? Paparazzi shots are invasive and, crucially, completely non-consensual. Fame, according to the paparazzi model, gives men the right to stalk women, to watch them through telescopic lenses while they think they are alone, to watch and wait for a moment deemed suitably titillating or humiliating.” And they’ve replaced Page 3 with something far worse. (via @stavvers)

– “It initially came across as a fairly benign campaign, to keep boobs out of a family paper. We can’t have kiddies staring at norks, can we? But… to try and position The Sun as a family newspaper, a main argument of NMP3, is laughable. If you want your children to have access to misogyny, homophobia, racism, antagonism towards those on state welfare, ableism, xenophobia, whorephobia and a whole host of other oppressive bullshit, that’s your own bad parenting; but don’t call it a family newspaper. In specifically going for one page, the movement has singled out consensual nudity as their priority over the host of nasties listed above.” A Few Thoughts o the Demise of Page 3 (h/t @melissagira)

Sex Work

– “And the Nordic model has often-damaging effects on sex workers’ health and safety. A 2010 review published by the Swedish Institute found that criminalization resulted in heightened harassment of sex workers, who felt that they were “hunted” by the police, and treated as “incapacitated persons” whose “wishes and choices are not respected.” The 2012 Global Commission report found that criminalization makes their lives “less safe and far riskier in terms of H.I.V.”” Canada’s Flawed Sex Trade Law (h/t @melissagira)

Parenting

– “However emotionally rewarding it may be for all involved, staying home with children exacts a serious, enduring vocational toll that largely explains the lingering pay gap between men and women as well as women’s higher rate of poverty. With the recession having raised the stakes, fewer mothers may be willing to take the risk. If it’s not yet the twilight of the stay-at-home mother, it could be her late afternoon. Certainly it is long past nap time.” Regrets of a stay-at-home mom (via @salon)

– “I don’t reveal anything that my child might consider private someday. I take this commandment pretty seriously and always err on the side of caution. I have no idea whether my son will grow up to be a relatively guarded person (like his mama) or a chronic over-sharer who loves gushing about his life online. Either would be fine with me, but the point is, I don’t know. There’s a chance he’d be fine with me sharing all kinds of details about his childhood, but there’s also a chance he won’t be and, for me, it’s just not worth the risk.” The Mom’s Guide to Ethical Internet Sharing

Racism

– “This white racial anxiety of not being at the center feels to me far more dangerous to black youth than seeing a film that tells them a story about themselves and their history. Having taught in D.C. public schools, I know D.C. youth aren’t checking for any kind of saviors, white or black. Like most adolescents, they are looking to find their path and make their mark.” Maureen Dowd’s clueless white gaze: What’s really behind the “Selma” backlash (h/t @capetownbrown)

Health Care

– “So what these guidelines are actually saying is that only thin people should get evidence-based treatment for their health issues.” Horrible New Medical Guidelines for Fat Patients (via @DancesWithFat)

Sexism

Two things first: Happy Birthday Kevan and GO SEAHAWKS! Now, back to depressing shit…

Islamophobia

– “The 28-year-old attacker forced the front door of his neighbours’ house in the picturesque village of Beaucet near Avignon just after midnight on Wednesday shouting “I am your god, I am your Islam” before repeatedly stabbing Mohamed El Makouli, he National Observatory Against Islamophobia said Friday.” Moroccan man murdered in ‘Islamophobic’ attack in France (h/t @imraansiddiqi)

– “Emerson also claimed that “Muslim religious police” patrolled the streets of London, and beat everyone who didn’t dress in “Muslim attire.” That sparked a day of worldwide merciless parodying of the network under the hashtag #foxnewsfacts, most of which riffed off Emerson’s characterization.” Fox News’ terrible, horrible, no good, very bad weekend (h/t @TonyKaron)

– “Writers at Vox have indeed been bombarded with threats for our Charlie Hebdo coverage. But not one of those threats has come from a Muslim or in response to publishing anti-Islam cartoons. Revealingly, they have rather all come from non-Muslims furious at our articles criticizing Islamophobia.” Vox got no threats for posting Charlie Hebdo cartoons, dozens for covering Islamophobia (h/t @roqchams)

Racism

– “But the optics of this year’s slate are particularly egregious when you combine the surprising coolness towards Martin Luther King Jr. biopic Selma—nominated for Best Picture but missing in the Director, Actor, and Screenplay categories—with the fact that all 20 acting nominees this year are white, the first time such a thing has happened since the Oscars honoring the films of 1995.” The Oscars Haven’t Been This White in 19 Years (h/t @TKhatesyou)

Free Speech

– ‘But being offended certainly gives people the right to talk about the fact that they’re offended. If someone calls me, for example, an ugly terrorist bitch, I am not “censoring” them by offering a rebuke. I’m not even censoring them by deciding to block or otherwise not interact with them – free speech does not mean you have the right to a captive audience. In fact, free speech means that if I hear something I don’t like, I’m well within my rights to say, “This is garbage and I don’t want to listen to it, so I’m not going to.”’ How Much is That Free Speech in the Window? (via @jaythenerdkid)

– “Free speech and freedom of the press, like in the United States, are constitutionally protected rights. However, in France this typically comes with a few very important caveats. It is prohibited for an individual to publicly incite another to discriminate against individuals on grounds of ethnicity, nation, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or handicap. However, the definition of “discrimination” remains intentionally murky and is frequently challenged in cases brought under these laws.” How France went from free-speech rallies to 54 hate-speech arrests in one week (via @FusionIsNews)

– “But as reporters have been pointing out, the lineup included traces of hypocrisy—Turkey, Egypt, and Russia aren’t exactly on the vanguard of robust and unshackled journalism. ” Walk Is Cheap: The “Circus of Hypocrisy” Among World Leaders at This Weekend’s Rally in Paris (via @strangerslog)

– “As pernicious as this arrest and related “crackdown” on some speech obviously is, it provides a critical value: namely, it underscores the utter scam that was this week’s celebration of free speech in the west.” Frank Arrests a Comedian for His Facebook Comments, Showing the Sham of the West’s ‘Free Speech’ Celebration

– One Student’s Epic Tweets Call Out the Biggest Hypocrites Marching for Free Speech in Paris

Government Surveillance

– “They — and not just the security services — will be able to use it to intercept all of our communications. That includes things like the pictures of your kids in your bath that you send to your parents to the trade secrets you send to your co-workers. But this is just for starters. David Cameron doesn’t understand technology very well, so he doesn’t actually know what he’s asking for.” What David Cameron just proposed would endanger every Briton and destroy the IT industry (h/t @stavvers)

– “The known facts from this latest case seem to fit well within a now-familiar FBI pattern whereby the agency does not disrupt planned domestic terror attacks but rather creates them, then publicly praises itself for stopping its own plots.” Latest FBI Claim of Disrupted Terror Plot Deserves Much Scrutiny and Skepticism

Police Brutality

– “In every case, in spite of the clarity of the evidence, or the outrageousness of the chokehold, the NYPD completely rejected every single disciplinary recommendation given by the Civilian Review Board.” New York inspector general issues ‘alarming’ report on NYPD’s continued use of banned chokeholds (via @shaunking)

Willful Ignorance

– “Cruz has also spoken out against decades of science that indicate climate change, telling CNN last year that in “the last 15 years, there has been no recorded warming” to support “a so-called scientific theory”. His vociferous opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and his support of extreme budget cuts could spell trouble for Nasa’s less prominent programs, such as its own climate research and sophisticated supercomputers.” Republican senator Ted Cruz to oversee Nasa in Congress (h/t @WilWheaton)

– “Rich straight white guy telling the world he’d appreciate “less outrage”. This notion doesn’t sit well with those who daily face various forms of outrageous and awful kinds of oppression or marginalisation. How exactly should people of colour show “less outrage” while responding to racism? How should rape survivors and targets of sexual assault convey “less outrage”, while daily exposed to men who think they own women’s bodies? How should gay rights activists threatened with death convey “less outrage” in countries where their existence is a crime?” Patton Oswalt fans and how to outrage properly (h/t @tauriqmoosa)

Health Care

– “This conversation isn’t about death at all. “Death” is the word that confuses the conversation, that makes people too afraid, and too angry, and too frantic to keep talking. This conversation is really about autonomy. It is about what makes life worth living, and if, in keeping people alive for so long, we are consigning them to a fate worse than death.” How Americans’ refusal to talk about death hurts the elderly (h/t @elementalnw)

Misogyny

– “So you’re faced with what to do when you’ve been so badly abused it’s made international news. Do you go to the police or not? Well, if you don’t, they’ll claim that it wasn’t real because there’s no police report. They did so with Anita (who did have a police report, which was conveniently ignored). If you do enter the system, you have to accept that all of what I’ve already written is what you’re facing down, with little chance at actually seeing justice, be willing to sign up for the years-long process in the event that it actually goes to trial, and know you have little chance of a court order stopping your obsessive abuser any more than seeing people target and hurt your family and the families of those close to you ever did.” August Never Ends (h/t @thelindywest)

– “But it also reveals some truths that apply to all working women. There is a gender wage gap in nearly every kind of job, from high paying to low paying, and every industry. That gap doesn’t disappear even when taking into account career experience, which includes any breaks taken to raise children.” Charlize Theron Negotiates $10M Raise After Sony Hack Reveals Male Costar Was To Be Paid Millions More (via @ThinkProgress)

Death Penalty

– “If they truly want to honor me, then they will do away with the death penalty for him, and they will give him life in prison without the possiblity of parole,” Waller said in a video that was sent to the defendant’s lawyers.”When he dies, I want it to be because it’s his time, not because he’s been executed due to what happened to me and my child. I don’t want that on my hands. It makes me feel like I’m no different from him.” Mother Of Murdered Infant: ‘If They Truly Want To Honor Me’ They Won’t Execute The Killer (via @ThinkProgress)

Bigotry

– “Isabella Sankey, the policy director at human rights body Liberty, said: ‘Turning our teachers and childminders into an army of involuntary spies will not stop the terrorist threat. Far from bringing those at the margins back into mainstream society, it will sow seeds of mistrust, division and alienation from an early age.'” Anti-terror plan to spy on toddlers ‘is heavy-handed’ (h/t @saladinahmed)

Rape Culture

– “What’s truly baffling here is why the show’s producers didn’t edit this stuff out, trim it down, or make some kind of statement about it beforehand. Sure, Cosby wasn’t a big topic a year ago, but he’s easily one of the most loathed celebrities in America right now.” Keshia Knight Pulliam Fired From Celebrity Apprentice for Not Talking to Bill Cosby (h/t @BlackInformant)

– “It reveals that Harding and others were often confused by what the procedures of the hearing were, that Winston and the woman told incredibly different versions of the events that night, and, looking at the whole of what was presented over those two days, it’s unclear how Harding came to his final decision.” Jameis Winston Conduct Hearing Transcript Reveals Mass Confusion and Bizarre Decision-Making (via @scATX)

Racism

– ‘”In [the grand juror]’s view, the current information available about the grand jurors’ views is not entirely accurate — especially the implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges,’ the lawsuit says.” Grand Juror Sues McCulloch, Says He Mischaracterized The Wilson Case (h/t @sarahkendzior)

Capitalism

– “Can you imagine the outrage if hotels blocked cell phones, forcing guests to use their profit-hogging landline phones? Of course, the American Hotel and Lodging association is saying this isn’t about gouging customers, it’s about protecting their networks.” Hotel chains are asking the FCC for permission to block personal WiFi devices on their properties (h/t @teigland_cindy)

– “The CBPP’s Ed Bolen said he expects the requirement to accelerate a decline in enrollment that has been driven so far by people getting jobs and earning too much money to qualify for assistance. People who are unable to find jobs will be out of luck, since few states offer training or workfare programs that meet the requirements.” Food Stamp Enrollment Expected To Drop By 1 Million Next Year (h/t @Velma1984)

Misogyny

– “But in a classic example of the difference between surface “equality” and genuine equity, many public restrooms continue to be facilities that are equal in physical space, while favoring men’s bodies, experiences, and needs.” The Everyday Sexism of Women Waiting in Public Toilet Lines (h/t @msfoundation)

Family

– “You’re probably hearing a lot about how no love can compare to the love a mother has for her child. Parents might be telling you that you’ll never ever EVER understand what real love feels like unless you become a parent yourself. Well, now that I’ve crossed over from “nonparent” to “parent,” and with apologies to my fellow parents, I want to deliver this important message: You pretty much get it.” Loco Parentis: You Pretty Much Get It

Policing

– “One of the consequences of the war on drugs is that police officers are pressured to make large numbers of arrests, and it’s easy for some of the less honest cops to plant evidence on innocent people,” said Gabriel Sayegh of the DPA. “The drug war inevitably leads to crooked policing — and quotas further incentivize such practices.” Stephen Anderson, Ex NYPD Cop: We Planted Evidence, Framed Innocent People To Reach Quotas (h/t @Pundit_acadEMIC)

Cultural Appropriation

– “What Azalea does best is mimicry. She might have adopted mentor T.I.’s sound, but she, unlike him, can’t trace her flow to the place she grew up or the specific culture she grew up within.” The Cultural Crimes of Iggy Azalea (h/t @FeministaJones)

Sexism and Nerd Culture

– “Hi there, shy, nerdy boys. Your suffering was and is real. I really fucking hope that it got better, or at least is getting better, At the same time, I want you to understand that that very real suffering does not cancel out male privilege, or make it somehow alright. Privilege doesn’t mean you don’t suffer, which, I know, totally blows.” On Nerd Entitlement (via @PennyRed)

Homelessness

– “What the city is saying is that it refuses to provide affordable housing, but it does not tolerate people living outside,” said Sandy Perry, an organizer at the Affordable Housing Network of Santa Clara County, who has worked with San Jose’s homeless population since 1991. “This is a willful, wholesale violation of human rights.” ‘Some sort of hell’: How one of the wealthiest cities in America treats its homeless (h/t @SarahKendzior)

Transgender Issues

– “By scheduling tumblr posts, #LeelahAlcorn defeated measures by her parents to defame her legacy, her life, herself.” Leelah Alcorn (via @Unit0053)

– “When we talk about “politicizing” an issue like death threats, the presumption that the problem is a localized, personal problem and that publicizing it makes it political. But what if we’re in an environment where threats are endemic and constant? Where the force generating those threats is a widespread, self-sustaining, and virulent social movement? When the problem is already political, when the intolerable situation is the status quo?” Cover-Ups and Concern Trolls: Actually, It’s About Ethics in Suicide Journalism (h/t @Sarah_LNX)

Racism

– “Arguments about race are often heated and anecdotal. As a social scientist, I naturally turn to empirical research for answers. As it turns out, an impressive body of research spanning decades addresses just these issues — and leads to some uncomfortable conclusions and makes us look at this debate from a different angle.” Racial Bias, Even When We Have Good Intentions (via @NYTimes)

– “In August, the Pentagon reversed a decision that banned certain hairstyles that just happened to be the ones that worked for hair that just happened to belong to African-American women. That was widely welcomed as a just result. After all, even the Congressional Black Caucus had called the regulation discriminatory and pushed for a change. But try telling that to some people, like commenters on this military forum, who said, “Oh come on…there’s nothing wrong with these new regulations. I just hate how some people use racism to whine about things they don’t like,” and reasoned like this: “No white dudes get high fades unless they are in the military either. It’s not racist.” 17 horrible things people said weren’t racist in 2014 (h/t @deray)

Rape Culture

– “But we now know enough to be appalled by how Florida State University and the city of Tallahassee handled this entire ordeal. We know that police refused to investigate the original accusation of rape for months and that the school did not interview Winston about the incident for over a year. We know that the police—eventually pressured by the press into investigating the incident—had financial ties as security workers for the Seminole Boosters club.” A Reality of Their Own: Jameis Winston, Rape and Seminole Fandom at Florida State (via @EdgeofSports)

Reproductive Health

– “So I went to see a specialist in reproductive psychiatry (I live in New York City, don’t you know)—and again, believe me, I know exactly how lucky I am to be able to do that. She met with me during a four-hour consultation and at the end told me that whatever possible, minor, and even as-yet-unknown potential side effects my medications might have on my developing baby were completely dwarfed by the significant, major, and enduring effects my depression would definitely have on my developing baby. I was floored—I’d never before considered that my depression could hurt a baby I was making, but indeed, the doctor told me that they can test children even at three or four and still find significant differences—and not good ones—between children whose mothers were depressed during pregnancy and those whose mothers were not.” Taking Medication While Pregnant: I’m Not Sorry

Injustice

– “They found that the cemetery held 31 graves. That matched exactly the number of pipe crosses at Boot Hill, which were planted in the 1990s based on folklore. But that number — 31 — was based on the school’s own records, records kept by men accused of torturing boys. Those same papers showed that another 50 children died in custody. We asked where the other 50 boys were buried. The FDLE said they had no idea.” Ground Truth: In Dozier’s Neglected Cemetery a Search for Lost Boys and the Reasons Why They Died (h/t @mattdpearce)

Police Violence

– “But I assume this means we can blame Bill O’Reilly for his 28 episodes of invective against “Tiller the Baby Killer” that eventually ended in the murder of Wichita abortion provider George Tiller by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder.” Let’s Blame Conservatives For All the Killings They’re Responsible For (h/t @allenbrauer)

– “At the same time, however, we need to understand that their deaths are in no way related to the massive protests against systemic abuses of the justice system as symbolized by the recent deaths—also national tragedies—of Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, and Michael Brown. Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the suicidal killer, wasn’t an impassioned activist expressing political frustration, he was a troubled man who had shot his girlfriend earlier that same day.” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: The Police Aren’t Under Attack. Institutionalized Racism Is. (via @kaj33)

– “Keep in mind that up until now, there have been no reported incidents before any game, high school college or professional, in response to the players’ wearing the shirts. And we should ask: What kind of a message it is for a principal to send to young people that actually caring about the world and being educated on issues is somehow something that should be maligned and censored, if not outright punished?” Lesson Learned: High School Hoops Team Disinvited From Tournament Over ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Shirts (via @EdgeofSports)

Capitalism

– “Many were uninsured Heartland patients who were eligible for financial aid that would have eliminated or drastically cut their bills. Instead, they were charged full price for their care, without the deep discounts negotiated by insurers, according to court records, interviews and data provided by Heartland.” From the E.R. to the Courtroom: How Nonprofit Hospitals Are Seizing Patients’ Wages (via @ProPublica)

Racism

– “The American rapper’s drawl is incongruous with her Australian accent in interviews. She seems clueless as to why hip-hop is black dominated, but she’s absolutely sure that she deserves a place in it. She’s succeeding in a genre with no idea of its social and historical significance.” Azealia Banks vs Iggy Azalea: ‘Privileged white people shouldn’t steal hip-hop’ (via @renireni)

Misogyny

– “If “the rape train’s coming for you”—directed at a woman in order to punish her for her work advocating for women—doesn’t qualify as gendered abuse, then what on earth does? What’s the point of having a harassment policy at all if it doesn’t police harassment?” Twitter doesn’t think these rape and death threats are harassment (via @TheLindyWest)

– “She doesn’t want a relationship, she just wants people to leave her alone. When it comes to stuff like that, either be decent or don’t bother her at all,” she said. Man rejected by woman on Facebook charged for burning down her home (via @Q13Fox)

Health Care

– “It represents a remarkable shift,” Arthur Caplan, who heads the division of bioethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, told NBC News. “If physician opposition continues to weaken, it is likely that despite fierce resistance from some religious groups and some in the disability community, more states will follow Oregon, Washington and Vermont, and legalize.” Most Doctors In The United States Now Support ‘Death With Dignity’ Laws (h/t @Legal_Voice)

Resolutions

– “I’ve concluded that people condemn those who make resolutions to change mainly because change makes folks uncomfortable. So rather than encourage and support people who are trying to make changes, folks ridicule them and chastise them for making resolutions.” Talking About A Resolution (via @FeministaJones)

Rape Culture

– “At what point do people stop denying the heat, the smoke and the shouts of burning victims before finally acknowledging that, yes, there is a fire here?” Beverly Johnson is the latest woman to accuse Bill Cosby. Are you ready to believe women’s stories? (via @SaraJBenincasa)

– “And Morris felt like she was alone. “All of the people that were there,” she says, “were his friends and were wrestling members. I didn’t have a single person on my side in this case. I didn’t have my family there. I didn’t have many friends in town. I was basically by myself besides my roommate.” All of this made her keenly aware that she was not emotionally ready to enter a criminal justice system that would scrutinize her life and choices. “I just didn’t feel ready then,” she says.” The Wrestler and the Rape Victim (via @scATX)

Reproductive Health

– “The spending bill includes a provision to extend abortion coverage for Peace Corps volunteers in cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment — bringing volunteers’ coverage in line with the health care that all federal employees receive.” Government Spending Bill Quietly Resolves Peace Corps Abortion Coverage Debate (via @ThinkProgress)

– “The law is not only incarcerating a handful of new mothers but affecting many more women, as evidenced by months of interviews with women, doctors and health workers. Pregnant women are diving underground in an effort to avoid the fate they’ve seen in mug shots on the local news. They are avoiding prenatal care—and when they do get it, they are switching hospitals at the last minute, leaving the state, or giving birth outside of hospitals in the hope of avoiding prosecution and keeping their children.” The State Where Giving Birth Can Be Criminal (h/t @WentRougue)

– “The proposed measure reads, “No abortion shall be performed or induced unless and until the father of the unborn child provides written, notarized consent to the abortion.” The bill contains exceptions for women who become pregnant as the result of rape or incest—but there are caveats.” This GOP Lawmaker Wants a Woman to Get Permission From the Father Before Having an Abortion (h/t @MsFoundation)

Police Violence

– “In the current climate of protests in New York City that the commanding officer chose to post this to the verified Twitter account of the precinct for motivation is just flat-out tone deaf and shocking, if not revealing.” Midtown NYPD commanding officer posts, then immediately deletes, outrageous tweet (via @shaunking)

– “McElroy first contacted police Sept. 11, four weeks after Wilson shot and killed the 18-year-old Brown during a confrontation – and after the officer’s version of events had been described in media accounts.” Hannity favorite ‘Witness 40′ in Wilson grand jury is a liar and convicted felon: report (h/t @AngryBlackLady)

– “Furthermore, Sandy McElroy, beyond being a convicted felon, had a record in St. Louis of interfering with investigations and making preposterous claims about connections she had to cold cases. All of this was known to St. Louis officials. Her extreme racism was not private, but public, and was discussed at great length with the FBI before she was ever allowed to testify before the grand jury.” How Sandy McElroy and Prosecutor Bob McCulloch colluded to destroy the case against Darren Wilson (via @shaunking)

– “All we want is justice for John Crawford, and everyone responsible for John Crawford’s death should be held responsible,” Crawford family attorney Michael Wright said at a Tuesday press conference, numerous outlets reported. “The criminal justice system refused to hold those accountable so the civil system must.” John Crawford’s family sues Wal-Mart, Ohio town police for wrongful death (h/t @JamilSmith)

– “Currently awaiting Obama’s signature, it mandates that states receiving federal criminal justice assistance grants report, by gender and race, all deaths that occur in law enforcement custody, including any while a person is being detained or arrested.” Congress Is Finally Going to Make Local Law Enforcement Report How Many People They Kill (via @MotherJones)

Homophobia

– “The letter calls both the lifetime ban and the one-year deferral policies “discriminatory” and “unacceptable.” The lawmakers urged an end to the lifetime ban by the “end of 2014,” while also pushing for a less-stringent restriction than the one-year celibacy requirement.” Elizabeth Warren Says Gay Men Should Be Able To Donate Blood (via @MotherJones)

Transportation

– “This—this—is how megaprojects turn into boondoggles: Politicians say they’re willing to keep throwing money at a construction project no matter how much it costs, no matter how long it takes, regardless of how much the facts change or how bad the news gets. That’s preposterous.” Guest Editorial: Seattle, Pull the Plug on the Tunnel Unless You Can Answer These Seven Questions (via @strangerslog)

Trans Rights

– “This important shift will ensure that the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are extended to those who suffer discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status,” Holder said in a statement. “This will help to foster fair and consistent treatment for all claimants. And it reaffirms the Justice Department’s commitment to protecting the civil rights of all Americans.” The Justice Department Just Announced a Big Step Forward for Transgender Rights (via @PolicyMic)

Journalism

– “At a more basic level, any document dump beckons to a basic reportorial instinct. Everybody we deal with – politicians, cops, big media empires — wants to show us the stage-managed version. We want to see what came before that, what happened when they thought no one was looking.” Aaron Sorkin’s masturbatory falseness: Sony’s stolen emails, “The Newsroom” and a bankrupt NYT Op-Ed (h/t @thewayoftheid)

Torture

– “Recently released documents detail how the the United States charged hundreds of Japanese military officials and prison guards with war crimes for abuses against American prisoners of war, including waterboarding.” New Documents Show the US Called Waterboarding Torture During World War II (h/t @blogdiva)

Health

– “Recommendations made on medical talk shows often lack adequate information on specific benefits or the magnitude of the effects of these benefits,” the article said. “… The public should be skeptical about recommendations made on medical talk shows.” Half of Dr. Oz’s medical advice is baseless or wrong, study says (h/t @DrJanChi)

– “Ignoring the complexity of body size, importantly, nowhere in the ADA definition does it say “unless the impairment is the fault of the person, in which case no accommodations shall be given.”  I assume that’s because the idea that we should try to determine if a person’s disability is their fault before providing  accommodations that allow them to be a welcome part of society is absolutely horrifying.” Is “Obesity” a Disability (via @DancesWithFat)

Feminism + Ableism

– ““I didn’t know that talking about the violence that women with disabilities experience detracted from whatever the ‘real issue’ is,” Woodward says. “Do women with disabilities not count as women? Are we not part of your population?” #YesAllWomen, but Not Really: How Feminism Leaves the Disabled Behind (h/t @socwomen)

Trans Rights

– “The fight for justice for the transgender community is largely invisible to our fellow citizens, despite the rampant systematic discrimination of trans people – those whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.” I am a transgender woman and the government is denying my civil rights (h/t @ggreenwald)

Rape Culture

– “I choose to believe Jackie. I lose nothing by doing so, even if I’m later proven wrong – but at least I will still be able to sleep at night for having stood by a young woman who may have been through an awful trauma.” Who is Jackie? Rolling Stone’s rape story is about a person – and I believe her (via @JessicaValenti)

– “But there is no way to retract the damage that has been done to this young woman or to the countless survivors who will now agonize even more over whether to come forward.” How Rolling Stone Gave A Gift To Rape Apologists (h/t @CamilleDeMere)

Racism

– “Regarding his perspective on the grand jury, Rodney Lee stated, “They all treated us like we were dumb, like we didn’t know nothing … I mean, what was the point of us even being there if they weren’t going to listen to us?” Key eyewitnesses in Eric Garner’s death state that the grand jury was biased and uninterested (via @shaunking)

– “An analysis by Villanova researchers of data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health indicated that black girls with the darkest skin tones were three times more likely to be suspended than black girls with the lightest skin.” Schools’ Discipline for Girls Differs by Race and Hue (h/t @JamilSmith)

Education

– “In the case of Buffalo United, the auditors found that the school board had little idea about exactly how the company – a large management firm called National Heritage Academies – was spending the school’s money. The school’s board still had to approve overall budgets, but it appeared to accept the company’s numbers with few questions. The signoff was “essentially meaningless,” the auditors wrote.” When Charter Schools Are Nonprofit in Name Only (h/t @marcela_elisa)

Torture

– “Contrary to the CIA’s assertions, there is no clinical indication to use rectal rehydration and feeding over oral or intravenous administration of fluids and nutrients,” said Dr. Vincent Iacopino, PHR’s senior medical advisor. “This is a form of sexual assault masquerading as medical treatment.” CIA Torture Report Highlights Unnecessary Medical Procedure (h/t @onekade)

– “But many media organizations have not applied this binding definition to the brutalities described in the Senate Intelligence Committee report. Some have argued that by using euphemistic terms instead of calling torture “torture,” the media minimizes its horrifying realities.” Here Are All The Things The Media Calls Torture Instead Of ‘Torture’ (via @ThinkProgress)

Suicide

– “Placing the suicidal subject within the realm of the clinically pathological provides a story that makes sense of my attempted self-manslaughter. Yet, for reasons unclear and probably historical, the problem of intent lingers. It’s not a question I seek out, but one that haunts me: Did I mean to do it?” Of Suicide (h/t @chrislhayes)

Bigotry

– “The announcement frustrated LGBT advocates who said the unilateral ban on blood donations unfairly stigmatizes gay men. Now advocates are looking to bypass the FDA advisory panel by pressuring upper tiers of the Obama Administration.” FDA Panel Won’t Meet To Reconsider Ban On Gay Men Donating Blood (h/t @ParkerMolloy)

Racism + Policing

– “The series of more than two dozen messages was meant to highlight the absurdity of critics who say black people are safe if they just “don’t do” things that make them look suspicious, Oluo says.” 25 Activities Black People Should Avoid Around Cops (h/t @thelindywest)

-‘I spoke with Dr. Carlos today and he said, “How about those Rams? They may be under contract to play football, but greater than that, they have a right to care about humanity. They have the right to feel whether something is just or unjust. They are entitled to their opinions, most centrally that Michael Brown’s life should not have been taken. Asking them to just ‘shut up and play’ is like asking a human being to be paint on the wall.”‘  St. Louis Rams Players Tell the World That #BlackLivesMatter (via @EdgeofSports)

– “But protesting the death of Michael Brown was not a political act – at least, not in the way it is being framed by political pundits. It was the act of black men who are or may someday parent black children. They are men with significant others and parents and siblings who also know the challenges of living and breathing while black. They are men who don’t want to die for being black. They don’t want their children to die for being black. I cannot think of a more personal act.” What the St Louis Rams know about Ferguson is a righteous glimpse of the way forward (via @rgay)

– “Officer Peter Liang and his partner Shaun Landau were “incommunicado for more than six and a half minutes” right after the fatal shooting of Akai Gurley. During that time, the cops’ commanding officer and an emergency operator tried to contact them, but couldn’t reach them.” Cop Who Fatally Shot Unarmed Man Allegedly Texted Union Rep Instead Of Getting Help (via@Gothamist)

– “What is clear is this was vicious policing and an innocent man is dead. Another conclusion is also obvious. Officer Pantaleo was stripped of his gun and badge; he needs to be stripped of his job.” A Search for Justice in the Eric Garner Case (h/t @parul_sehgal)

– “The letter recommended that the department part ways with Loehmann, who went on to become a police officer with the Cleveland Division of Police. ‘I do not believe time, nor training, will be able to change or correct the deficiencies,’ Polak said.” Cleveland officer who shot Tamir Rice had ‘dismal’ handgun performance for Independence police (h/t @tanehisicoates)

– “We can move forward with this notion that police officers wearing body cameras will make them more judicious in their use of force, but it seems pretty clear that they just don’t give a fuck, and the court system is content to allow them to keep on not giving a fuck.” The System That Failed Eric Garner and Michael Brown Cannot Be Reformed (via @mychalsmith)

– “Clearly, the social disaster of white violence has complicated roots. But the beginning of an answer is to admit that we have a problem. It’s striking that President Obama, who’s frequently found time to comment on the height of black men’s waistlines, seems oblivious to this torrent of white killing.” White-on-white murder in America is out of control (h/t @ClinicEscort)

– “Prosecutors said Bailey marched back to his truck, and Combs tried to get inside to turn off the ignition. The two briefly fought, and Combs shot Bailey, 54, twice in the chest. Combs said he was tangled in Bailey’s steering wheel and feared for his life if Bailey drove away. Last month, a judge threw out his self-defense claim and ruled Combs should have let Bailey leave. White ex-cop charged in killing of black man in SC (h/t @MichaelSkolnik)

– “African Americans’ frustation and anger over Garner runs much deeper than the decision not to indict the white cop who killed him; it is a reaction to a white supremacist system that oppresses us and excludes us in every area of American life — economic, educational, social and political. Even the most empathic white person is just not going to know what that’s like.” Dear White People: Here Are 5 Reasons Why You Can’t Really Feel Black Pain (h/t @sarahkendzior)

Reproductive Rights

– “For women in jobs that involve prolonged standing (retail clerks, cashiers), are physically strenuous or dangerous (firefighters, law enforcement officers), or include contact with toxic materials (janitors, hotel housekeepers), pregnancy can be in direct conflict with their ability to work. Simply put, in order to continue earning a paycheck while pregnant, many women will need their employers to make some adjustments.” Pregnancy Complication (h/t @Legal_Voice)

– “For all of the conservative rhetoric in the US about the importance of motherhood, parenting and family values, we sure are comfortable with trailing behind global norms on nearly every standard or policy that would support mothers, parents and families.” If we truly valued motherhood, we would actually do something to help pregnant women (via @JessicaValenti)

Rape Culture

– “We should believe, as a matter of default, what an accuser says. Ultimately, the costs of wrongly disbelieving a survivor far outweigh the costs of calling someone a rapist. Even if Jackie fabricated her account, U-Va. should have taken her word for it during the period while they endeavored to prove or disprove the accusation. This is not a legal argument about what standards we should use in the courts; it’s a moral one, about what happens outside the legal system.” No matter what Jackie said, we should generally believe rape claims (h/t @EdgeofSports)

– “So understand: I am a “false rape allegation” statistic. When they wrote their reports, sent the numbers off to the justice department to compile the information, I am down as a liar, a false allegation, even though no charges were ever filed against me. (Don’t know if that’s because they didn’t think they could make a case against me, or because they didn’t want to put a cop’s daughter on trial.) And you know what? I am not the only person. It is horrifying, the number of women that I have met in support groups and activist meetups who experienced very similar things. They too, are false allegation statistics. We were all raped.” I Am a False Rape Allegation Statistic (h/t @ChiefElk)

– “There’s no doubt that being falsely accused of rape is a dreadful thing that no one should have to endure. One of the reasons it is such a dreadful thing is that false accusations of rape basically do not happen. Statistically, between 2% and 8% of reported rapes are found to be false, but only about 40% of rapes are reported. Do a little math and that means that, for every false accusation of rape, there are up to 100 actual rapes that take place.” Jameis Winston Is Not A Victim (h/t @scATX)

– “[T]rust me when I tell you this letter is basically meaningless, penned by a group of scared kids in crisis mode, who require regular meetings to keep their floors mopped of beer.” That UVa Frat Letter Denying Rape Is Bullshit and Here’s Why (h/t @JessicaValenti)

Size Bigotry

– “In November, the CCG said it would take “urgent and necessary” measures to prioritise major treatment. That included delaying hip and knee operations for the morbidly obese, but Wednesday’s announcement applies to all routine procedures.” NHS Devon surgery restriction for smokers and obese plan revealed (h/t @fatbodypolitics)

Popular Culture

– “So, to say Obama is progress is saying that he’s the first black person that is qualified to be president. That’s not black progress. That’s white progress. There’s been black people qualified to be president for hundreds of years.” In Conversation with Chris Rock (h/t @jbouie)

Death Care

– “The choice of what to do with our bodies when we die is ours, but an $18 billion funeral industry and a cultural fear of death have kept us at arms’ length from the event. Few people know that embalming is not required by law anywhere in the United States, and even fewer realize that families can care for their own with no help from a professional in 44 states.” How Your Death Affects Climate Change (h/t @elementalnw)

– “I wanted to ask Doughty, what would a crematory design look like if we all feared death a little less, if we took down the physical and psychological fortress that separates the living from the recently deceased? Death Without Darkness (via @TheGoodDeath)

Police Killings

– “A Salt Lake Tribune review of nearly 300 homicides, using media reports, state crime statistics, medical-examiner records and court records, shows that use of force by police is the second-most common circumstance under which Utahns kill each other, surpassed only by intimate partner violence.” Killings by Utah police outpacing gang, drug, child-abuse homicides (via @sltrib)

– “[S]omeone called 911 describing “a guy with a gun pointing it at people,” but the caller twice suggested the gun was “probably fake” and that the individual was “probably a juvenile,” but it’s unclear if this information was relayed to police.” Cleveland Police Shoot And Kill 12-Year-Old Carrying A Fake Gun (via @ThinkProgress)

– “The family is outspoken in their belief that their son’s death was avoidable, had the police officers acted appropriately.”Officers Who Shot 12-Year-Old Holding Toy Gun Refused To Give Him First Aid (via @ThinkProgress)

– “Weekley says that another SWAT member had thrown a flash-bang grenade, which temporarily blinded him. That’s when he fired the shot that killed Aiyana who was asleep on the couch in the front room of the house.” Charges Dropped For Cop Who Fatally Shot Sleeping 7-Year-Old Girl (h/t @SueyPark)

Racism

– “Privilege is like oxygen: You don’t realize it’s there until it’s gone. As white folks, we can’t know what it’s like to go through life without racial privilege because we literally haven’t.” What white people need to know, and do, after Ferguson (h/t @AngryBlackLady)

– “Where he sees “opportunity” many St. Louisans see stone-cold murder. Everything about the announcement—the timing, the condescending tone, the weeks of militarized vehicles patrolling the roads—seemed designed to inflame and incite the region.”Ferguson’s Trial (via @SarahKendzior)

– “McCulloch essentially acknowledged that his team was serving as Wilson’s defense lawyers, noting that prosecutors “challenged” and “confronted” witnesses by pointing out previous statements and evidence that discredited their accounts.” Bob McCulloch’s pathetic prosecution of Darren Wilson (h/t @Milbank)

Sexism

– “A woman makes it impossible for men not see a truth that usually remains invisible to them: that men make our streets into threatening spaces. And in response, men threaten to kill her.” The masculine mistake (h/t @femfreq)

Prejudice and Humor

– “Reciting prejudiced comments (jokey or not) worsens one’s own attitude towards the group disparaged. Exposure to disparagement humor on the other hand doesn’t seem to affect the prejudices people hold; instead, it seems to affect how/whether people will act on their prejudices.” Sticks and Stones and Jokes (h/t @schemaly)

Reproductive Health

– “There is no universal connotation of the word “natural,” other than that it’s supposed to be wholesome and good. It’s like labeling a food as “natural” as opposed to, say, organic: Organic means food that is grown without pesticides, while “natural” means whatever the hell the manufacturer wants it to mean. And in the same vein, conflating “natural” birth with vaginal birth implies that other ways of being born are “unnatural”—in other words, inferior.” A Baby Coming Out of a Vagina Is a Vaginal Birth: There’s No Such Thing as ‘Natural’ (via @rhrealitycheck)

And Finally, Jay Smooth continues to bring the awesome:

Injustice

– ‘One is Stites’ cousin, Judy Mitchell, who is convinced Fennell is the real killer. “I just know he did [it],” she told The Intercept. “We’ve got to do something to stop this execution.”’ Is Texas Getting Ready to Kill an Innocent Man? (h/t @JeremyScahill)

Capitalism

– “Over dinner, he outlined the notion of spending “a million dollars” to hire four top opposition researchers and four journalists. That team could, he said, help Uber fight back against the press — they’d look into “your personal lives, your families,” and give the media a taste of its own medicine.” Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists

Reproductive Health

– “Comparisons between abortion and slavery are popular among the anti-choice crowd because most people agree that slavery is morally wrong.” Abortion Is Not Like Slavery, So Stop Comparing the Two (via @AngryBlackLady)

Rape and Celebrity

– “One reason that we have collectively plugged our ears against a decade of dismal revelations about Bill Cosby is that he made lots of Americans feel good about two things we rarely have reason to feel good about: race and gender.” No One Wanted to Talk About Bill Cosby’s Alleged Crimes Because He Made White America Feel Good About Race (h/t @ProfessorCrunk)

Language

– “Swearing, profanity, cursing, obscenity, and scatological terms are all different things. (Swearing is a subset of profanity, as we shall see, but it’s rather like squares being a subset of rectangles; there’s a good reason for the distinction.) They are not interchangeable.” This Is Thin Privilege

Size Bigotry

– “You may note that I’ve left off things like crying babies, tantruming toddlers, etc. That’s because I don’t think that people existing in an airport or on a plane should be treated as an annoyance.” 10 Things More Annoying Than Fat People On a Plane

Health

– “Health departments must work to sort out what medication is needed, what is available, and what is the best way to get it to those who need it. Who has you covered during a public health emergency? (via Me)

Racism

– “Western charity songs like the one being proposed by Geldof are not only patronising, they’re redundant and unoriginal. Producing an Ebola song now to raise money, nearly one year after the first reported case in Guinea, is belated at best. It reeks of the “white saviour complex” because it negates local efforts that have come before it.” Africans Respond to the Re-Release of “Do They Know It’s Christmas”

Unparalleled Joy